Chapter 44: Dragonslayer Festival V
Notes:
I think this is the battle with the largest sense of scale in the series. Overall, I think it went really well and I captured that scale to an adequate degree. It has the big boss team-up feel that I was going for, the rescue of the damsel, a decent sense of consequence and sacrifice. Yeah, I'm pretty happy with this. Feel free to yell the name of your favourite attack at the end, I recommend the classic Saber blast. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I'll see you with the end of arc interlude soon!
Chapter Text
My feet blur as I skim across the water towards the largest dragon. The closer we get to the monster, the more its sheer size becomes apparent. Sure, we could see from the beach that it dwarfed the other three dragons, and intellectually that was a good thing to notice. Yet now that we're halfway to the titanic creature, that size is no longer a simple statistic.
A single scale on the dragon is larger than I am. Each razor-sharp tooth is an obelisk stabbing out of the flesh of the tissue of its mouth.
"Do you think a person could fit in its pores?" I say aloud, prompting Seiryuu to sigh.
He stopped struggling on my shoulder a few hundred feet ago, resigning himself to being hoisted around like a sandbag.
"Can you focus? Is that something you're capable of?" He snarks and 'oops' the water was rough there causing me to jostle him.
"I was just thinking -if we dunked you in this dragon's pores you might absorb enough pheromones to get a girlfriend." Seiryuu groans and I hear Bikou cackle above us.
"That is a no to any ability to focus, I see." He says in an effort to retain his dignity. "Besides, I have a girlfriend already."
Bikou and I gasp in unison, "No way!"
Jindou-Yun flips upside down so Bikou can get up close to Seiryuu, "She's your pen pal you met online from somewhere distant enough that you tragically can never meet, right?"
"No, she isn't." Seiryuu grinds out, "She is a respectable member of the Shinra clan."
I make a noise of understanding, "Say no more, buddy. Gotta keep the bloodlines pure and all that good stuff. It's wonderful you aren't afraid to find love by plucking fruit off the family tree."
There is an enraged choking sound from Seiryuu and he starts to struggle from his place on my shoulder again. "That's it, I'm getting off this insane ride."
The change in weight distribution causes me to nearly miss a step and I hiss, "Stop wiggling! We'll stop teasing you."
"For now," I hear Bikou mutter from his seat on his cloud.
I have to leap when our target dragon finally decides we're too close and sweeps its tail across the water surface. The sudden acceleration upwards causes Seiryuu to groan and reposition himself. I barely make it over the massive appendage and the air pressure coming off the attack, combined with him moving, causes me to drop my passenger.
As I land back on the water surface, I look around to try to catch Seiryuu only to find him floating in mid-air beside Bikou.
"The Wood Phase includes air and lightning, you dolt. Flying is an elementary use of my abilities." He says haughtily.
"If you could do that from the start, why was I carrying you?" I yell, continuing to run at the dragon.
"Because you grabbed me before I could do anything and refused to let me go!" There is a flash of an azure aura around him and I make out a pair of red eyes over his shoulder before he rockets ahead.
"Tch, he should be thankful I didn't princess carry him," I grumble and accelerate to keep up.
A heavy blue haze falls over the environment and the oppressive aura released by the dragon multiplies to the point I can feel a strain in my muscles as I keep running. I see Bikou squint at the dragon and frown noticing the abrupt change as well.
My danger sense, honed over my life of combat, screams at me from all directions but most of all below me. Feeling this I immediately launch myself at Bikou and his Jindou-Yun, which is the only thing that saves me.
The surface of the water riots uncontrollably, tendrils of water stretching upward from all directions toward me. The surface of the sea in the area around us turns into a churning maw that seeks to drag us into the depths. If I didn't know better I would think this wasn't a dragon but Charybdis we're facing.
I fire off jets of black flame that consume the tendrils before they can reach me and a second later Bikou grabs my arm and hauls me up onto the cloud.
While he continues to manoeuvre the cloud through the sudden maelstrom of water towards our target, I fire off more flames to lessen the obstacles.
"I'm glad this cloud can carry more than the pure of heart," I say, my flames burning through a wall of water in front of us.
"You watch too much Drag So Ball. Wait, does that make you Fruigeta then?" Bikou pulls us into a tight roll, weaving past a series of water spikes.
"Please, if you think you're Son Kong in that analogy you're stupider than you look." He turns to me with the blankest look I've ever seen.
"I'm literally the Monkey King and my Ancestor is who the show is based on." I frantically point at the incoming torrents of water but he ignores them waiting for my answer.
"Fine fine, you can be Son Kong, dammit! Keep your eyes on the road you damn Monkey!" He smirks and the cloud below us glows brightly before firing off lightning bolts that break through the incoming barrage.
"You're damn right, I'm Son Kong," He mutters kicking the cloud into high gear.
We continue to slam through the hydro-kinetic defence that is being created by the dragon and as we burst through a final curtain of water we see the dragon staring straight at us.
Its entire face is contorted into an expression of sadistic glee and a cruel parody of a smile is stretched across the giant reptilian face. Its eyes glow a heavy blue like depths of the sea, the aura bursting out for dozens of meters from the orbs.
I turn around and see all the water we just blasted through transformed into hundreds of water spears dozens of meters long and they're all aimed at us.
I grit my teeth and prepare to block as many as I can for Bikou when suddenly hundreds of tendrils of lightning fall from the sky. The lightning branches through the projectiles shattering the spears in their entirety; the remnant droplets glittering in the flashing light.
Seiryuu lands lightly on Jindou-Yun wiping sweat from his brow, "It would've been annoying to finish this by myself."
Despite myself, I hold out my fist to him and after a second of confusion, he bumps his fist against it. "Good job, Seiryuu."
The dragon's expression shifts into a bitter ugly rage as its trap is unravelled.
It roars a challenge at us and the sheer volume of air released slows us down considerably. Seiryuu steps past me and makes a gesture like pushing open a pair of heavy doors. The condensed air from the roar parts, opening a corridor of low pressure wide enough for us to slip through.
If possible the dragon looks more pissed and stops roaring, instead, letting out a sibilant drone as the scales around its neck flare sideways. The scales begin to glow brightly with a draconic aura and I draw my sword stepping to the front of the cloud.
I wrap my sword in the silver hue of sword intent and parry the bombardment of draconic lasers that fire from its scales. Seiryuu is still recovering from the ridiculous amount of lightning he just conjured so the responsibility of dealing with these attacks falls to me and Bikou.
It's difficult due to the sheer number but not overly threatening since Bikou's skilful piloting allows us to evade most of the projectiles.
"Fucking lasers?" I growl, earning uneasy laughter from my companions.
"You would be surprised how often dragons result to lasers for attacks," Bikou says mildly, though there is a note of strain in his tone.
Seiryuu as if to prove a point begins firing soft green lasers at the dragon, peppering the shots along its enormous head. "Keep circling it. I don't have a large enough coverage yet!"
I continue to parry the lasers while Seiryuu fires off lasers of his own at the dragon. The attacks may be fast and powerful but they're all straightforward, making them easy to intercept. The task would almost be described as boring if it weren't for the fact a slip up could mean death.
Occasionally, Bikou has to fire lightning from Jindou-Yun to destroy a water tendril creeping up behind us. Other than that the dragon isn't doing anything particularly interesting. Even if it is smarter than the rest, it is still a lizard that is only a few hours old.
After a few minutes of this, I get fed up and bark at Seiryuu, "What are you even doing?"
"Setting up so we can execute your damn plan!" He snaps back irritably.
He pushes his glasses up his nose with a smirk, "I've finished my preparations anyway."
He launches himself off the cloud and shifts side to side, weaving through the laser barrage to land on the dragons highest head crest.
He stills for a moment, then the same azure aura he manifested earlier comes back with a vengeance. It begins to solidify into a colossal spectral form of an Azure Dragon, a pair of sharp red eyes snapping open on the spectral dragons head as he slams his palms onto the head of Leviathan's spawn.
Every spot where one of his lasers hit on the dragon earlier, thick wooden tendrils begin to emerge. The tendrils come together to form two giant draconic hands the wrap around the top and bottom jaw of the titanic serpent and start to pry its mouth open.
"Ibaraki, now!" Bikou shouts cutting me out of my awe at the sight.
The two of us focus on the burgeoning Ki of the wooden limbs, enhancing the durability and power behind them with our Senjutsu. There is a roar of pain from the dragon as its jaws are ripped wide open, no matter how hard it struggles to hold them closed. The creaking of the bones sounds like the cracks of thunder due to their sheer size.
Jindou-Yun speeds in between a gap in its teeth and Bikou throws out a bundle of his hair. Dozens of clones land in the mouth of the dragon, slamming their staffs down on its tongue.
"Expand!" They yell in unison and the interior of the dragon's mouth becomes a labyrinthian maze of stone pillars.
'Byakko! Chongyun needs to come now!' I yell through our link as a ball of draconic energy the size of a house starts to coalesce in the back of the dragon's throat.
'He's on his-'
My ears pop from the displaced air as Chongyun appears in the mouth beside me.
'-way'
I point up at the corner of the dragon's mouth where Shinobu is without even glancing at him. "Grab her and go! You get out of here too, Bikou!"
I assume they leave as I run to the back of the creature's mouth.
Ideally, we would all leave, the clones remaining to simply die. However, we can't do that because if this large of a dragon aims its breath at our retreating teammates it will mean certain death for them.
That's why I have to block the attack.
Somehow.
I growl in rage as I frantically try to figure out how I'm going to block this.
I snap off both my horns, manifesting my clones who glare at me with matching frowns. "Why the hell should we die here with you?"
"If I die you two are dead either way!" I snap at them. "Hurry up and help me think here!"
One of my clones gasps in realization and starts trying to snuff out the draconic ball of doom with our black flames. The flames begin to chip away at the mounting energy but even as the second clone and I add our own efforts the growing draconic power still outpaces us.
"Tch, you better manifest us for something fun next time!" One yells at me, slowly walking sideways to stand in front of me while still maintaining the flow of black flames.
The other clone notices and does the same, the two blocking me with their own bodies even as we continue to flood the dragon's throat with our black flames. Their Touki flares over them, covering their head and torso only to focus the defence on vital areas.
I do the same, willing to sacrifice my limbs if it means surviving the incoming blast. Something that is becoming increasingly unlikely as I feel the ball of Dragonfire rapidly expanding.
When the dragon decides it has had enough and fires off the beam mere seconds later, my first clone dies nigh-instantly. She has time to flash her middle finger at me over her shoulder before turning to dust though.
Excess energy vents past my remaining clone and my skin begins to bubble and crack, blackening from the power of that little portion of Dragonfire. I feel my teeth start to shatter from the intensity I'm gnashing them with.
There's a sound like laughter that booms through the dragon's cavernous mouth and suddenly the power of the beam increases again, wiping out my second clone.
I snarl, enraged that this overgrown reptile has the gall to play with me.
Manifesting my sword and turning it sideways in front of me, I use it as a shield from the blast. As glowing cracks start to form across the blade, my anger reaches levels it hasn't since I killed the Elder.
I'm not losing to a damn lizard that was born mere hours ago!
That rage bubbles outward into my Touki and along my skin, becoming a tangible presence, and I feel cold stone wrapping itself around my body. I glance down and see the red crystal from my mindscape covering me like armour -the very same instance I dimly recognize this, my sword shatters.
I inhale sharply as the beam fills my vision, feeling oddly bitter. The bitter feeling comes more from the destruction of my sword than anything.
"If I live through this I'm cutting off your fucking head!" I scream as the Dragonfire hits me.
Bikou cringes as the memories of his clones hit him simultaneously. Shivering he brushes his arms trying to rub away the feeling of searing Dragonfire. Still, his eyes remain locked on the mouth of the massive dragon.
Rather than a focused beam of Dragonfire, what comes out of its mouth is a cloud of ash that is followed by hacking coughs. A small form is shot through the cloud of ash and Bikou grins excitedly.
"That crazy woman pulled it off, huh?" He shakes his head in disbelief, trying to sense her Ki signature.
Chongyun reappears from delivering the little Tengu girl back to the beach and grabs Ibaraki out of the air before she can slam into the water. As the Roc Demon King cradles her form in his arms Bikou realizes how little of her body remains. Even from this distance, Bikou can tell that there is only a torso and a head left of the woman.
The Roc's reappearance and subsequent departure are too fast for Bikou to confirm whether Ibaraki is alive or not, however.
"If Chongyun is bothering with carrying her back she's probably fine," Bikou mutters turning his attention back to the giant dragon.
It hasn't stopped coughing yet and the ash is getting thicker the more it does. Bikou smirks when tendrils of black flame start to billow out of its mouth and nose. "At least she hit back as hard as she got hit."
Seiryuu leaps off the dragon's head, using its sudden crisis to escape unscathed. Just in time too as the sea around Leviathan's spawn rises for miles to try and snuff out the flames. The water level takes a nosedive as the dragon surrounds itself in a massive sphere of water.
"Oh, wow." Bikou gasps as the flames start to eat the water as well, causing the dragon to let out muffled howls of rage.
Seiryuu lands on Jindou-Yun and Bikou wordlessly points to the spectacle. The dragon is now drawing as much hyper dense water as it can into its mouth to stop the cursed flames and only barely begins to make headway.
"We should kill it before it can recover," Seiryuu says, cleaning the moisture off his glasses.
Bikou shakes his head as the dragon starts to dive, trying to use the naturally higher pressure deep in the sea to assist its efforts. "We won't be able to make a decisive strike until it surfaces again. The water will grow too dense as it tries to protect itself in its vulnerable state."
The Onmyouji sighs, "At least it won't be able to use its mouth or breath attack for a while."
"We will have to kill it before it can. Ibaraki barely blocked that breath attack just now. If it grows any stronger…" He lets the statement hang as he turns the cloud around, heading back to the beachhead.
"Agreed. The other dragons have been dealt with though?" Seiryuu says looking around for any other enemies.
"Yeah, the other teams didn't disappoint." Bikou says with a grin, "Our generation is turning out to be pretty awesome."
Seiryuu nods looking almost reluctant to do so, "I wasn't expecting much from the others, to be honest. I already knew Suzaku of course, but to think there were so many powerhouses out there."
"Understandable." Bikou nods, "No offence but your clans are fairly sheltered from what I've heard. Not only that, you guys don't have hidden monsters and gods every few feet like we do where I live. It makes it easier to become… complacent with how you see the world."
The Azure Dragon host looks upset, though more at himself than Bikou's remarks. "I'm finding it ridiculous that the older generations of our clans are so proud of their lacking prowess. I think I finally understand why Suzaku gets so upset about the direction or lack thereof our clans are heading in."
"Maybe, don't slaughter your clan elders like her though…" Bikou says coughing awkwardly.
"Her reasons were far from flimsy," Seiryuu says hotly, leaping to defend his fellow clan heir. "Don't pretend to know her struggles."
"Woah dude, chill." The Monkey King raises his hands in surrender, "No judgement here."
"Hmph," Seiryuu crosses his arms.
Scratching his head, Bikou finds himself speeding up his cloud discretely. Is everyone so touchy here?
As they land on the beach, they both end up heading towards their crowded peers. Bikou cringes as the sound of soft sobbing hits his ears. Their group is surrounding the prone form of Ibaraki with a sombre mood. Her tiger is lying protectively by her head, glaring at everyone menacingly.
Well, most of their group is sombre. The Viking brothers are wrestling in the sand off in the distance and Haneul is passed out from overexertion nearby.
He'll never say this out loud in the future for fear of vicious reprisal from the woman in question but right now she looks more like a charcoal briquette than a person.
Her arms and legs are completely gone, having been burned away. The wounds were cauterized by the fire and are now grotesque black swirls of fused flesh. Her skin all across her body may as well be gone too, with bits of muscles and bone poking through the mess.
Bikou has to swallow a bit of bile that rose up when he looks at her face. Ugh, he doesn't want to even think about that let alone reminisce on the details; the image alone will haunt his dreams for a while.
Still, through all that damage he can feel her Ki signature still blazing wildly in her chest.
What tenacious vitality.
The little Tengu princess is the source of the sobbing he heard. The poor girl is kneeling beside Ibaraki's crippled form crying into her hands as she likely assumes her saviour deceased. Having been killed in an attempt to rescue her at that.
Well, it wouldn't be nice to let them think she's dead for too long.
"You guys realize she's still alive, right?" Bikou remarks with an effort to sound casual. It would ruin his image if they thought he turned soft all of a sudden.
Shinobu turns to him with a gasp, looking at him as though he's said something miraculous. She stares at him with so much unrestrained hope and tentative joy that it makes him want to cringe.
His eye twitches as he feels his heart skip a beat.
Dammit, that is illegally cute.
She bites her lip and looks between him and Ibaraki, "Please, can you heal her, Lord Monkey King?"
Shinobu turns to him and gives him a full dogeza in the sand pleading emphatically, "My family and I will be forever in your debt if you can save her."
She tips her head back up, eyes brimming with tears, "Please… I don't want her dying because of me… I'm not worth it."
Ibaraki's tiger snarls at the girl, having heard enough. "Don't you dare say you aren't worth it!"
The Tengu princess falls over in shock at the outburst and the tiger continues, "You're belittling the efforts of everyone here that tried to rescue you. Besides, my cub won't die this easily."
Bikou sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, "I'm not much of a healer. Ask me to do anything else with Ki, Yojutsu, or Daoist spells and I could do it. Healing though?
"I'd probably kill her trying." He hastily continues when the waterworks threaten to start again, "I can try if need be but I'd rather feel out the room first."
There's a yelp from the side as Suzaku is pushed closer by Seiryuu. "She'll heal her."
Suzaku whirls around and hisses angrily at him, "I've never tried healing someone other than myself! I'm more likely to kill her than heal her!"
The Kushihashi heir just rolls his eyes nonplussed. "Who knew that the Vermillion Bird was a coward. I don't see any other options, do you?"
Bikou grins at the other man's attempt to goad Suzaku into helping.
If she wasn't so distracted by the circumstances she'd probably notice the lacking manipulation. As it is though she just shoots Seiryuu a quick glare and turns back to Ibaraki.
"I can try praying to my patron?" Senzaemon interjects and they all cringe.
"I don't think Ibaraki has the best relationship with the more human favouring Shinto gods," Shinobu interjects with a hiccup.
Bikou frowns as he remembers Suijin's reaction to Ibaraki's request. Probably wise not to ask Hachiman for help with healing their new friend if that reaction is indicative of a small request. Healing this mess is a fairly large request in comparison.
Yu Wei starts to dig through her dimensional storage, "My master might have given me a treasure I could use?"
The Monkey King cringes as he remembers the 'magic treasures' she previously displayed. "We'll save that for the last resort. Alright, Daoist Yu?"
"Okay, Brother Wukong." All the men sigh in relief at her words.
Rossweisse pipes up, meeting Suzaku's eyes in a determined gaze. "If you supply me with your regenerative flames I can direct them. I wouldn't be able to heal her myself but I think together we can do it."
"Can't we just wait and have one of the gods heal her?" Suzaku says in a desperate attempt to not risk messing this up.
Feng Meng shakes his head and is the one who shoots down her idea. "They won't interfere until after the final dragon dies. I doubt she will be able to maintain her vitality until then no matter how well she's doing now."
Suzaku grits her teeth and exhales sharply, "Alright, let's try this."
I groan as my consciousness stirs and stealthily open one eye. I half expect Izanami to be standing in front of me, ready to half-heartedly scold me for not living longer while trying to hide her excitement at my presence. Instead, I'm greeted by the familiar environment of my mindscape.
Sitting up, I look around and notice there isn't any actual damage to my mindscape. I wouldn't have been surprised to see it in ruins and need to rebuild the damn thing again. It seems like every time I'm knocked out like this something goes wrong here.
"Good of you to finally wake up," Byakko says mildly from his position near the temple.
"You know me, always taking naps when I can," I say, trailing off into an awkward chuckle at his flat glare.
"Were you determined to die this time or are you just stupid?" He growls at me.
I frown and glare back, "What do you expect me to do in a situation like that?"
I couldn't just leave Shinobu to die. It would take any meaning out of the fact I already saved her once. Also, it would go against the mutual cooperation agreement I have with the Karasu Tengu. I can't just lose such a large support base for something like this.
"Ugh, I'm not getting into this with you. Just try harder to live since I'll die too, will you?" The grumpy tiger rolls over and closes his eyes.
What a lazy beast I have for a companion.
Looking at the shrine in my mindscape I notice the distinct lack of a sword in my statues hand. I growl lowly as I remember that fucking reptile and how it broke my weapon. I've carried that sword around for years and even if I needed a new one that doesn't mean I wasn't keeping the Bone Sword!
I could have made that a second family heirloom! My first child gets the autograph of Sun Wukong while the second gets my old sword. Now that plan is ruined!
I'm still going to make good on my promise to cut the things head off, missing sword or not.
How I'm going to do that I'll save for future me to worry about.
I exhale hot air and wipe some sweat from my brow. Why the hell is it so hot in here?
Frowning I try to adjust the temperature mentally only to find it continues rising.
"Oi, Byakko! Who's messing with my body right now?" I yell, stripping the clothes off my astral form.
"Your girlfriends are trying to heal you." He says one eye-opening slightly in a frustrated glare.
"Who? I don't even have one girlfriend, let alone two." I grumble and he groans.
"Tell that to the three women concerned about your survival right now." He shakes his head and looks like he's trying to bury himself in the grass.
"You deserve to be a charcoal briquette for charming three of them at once." He mutters.
I laugh weakly at that, not able to put very much effort into it given my soul is on fire right now.
"I hate to argue with the people trying to heal me right now but isn't throwing more fire on a burn victim a terrible idea?" I grit out as the temperature continues to grow.
"If it's too hot, wake up," Byakko says and my world shifts.
I bolt upright and inhale sharply, accidentally swallowing a mouthful of the bluish-white fire in the process. I start to cough, trying to get the fire out of my throat but obviously, it doesn't just come out. Thankfully, Suzaku dispels the flames causing me to sigh in relief.
I blink a few times to focus my freshly regenerated eyes and look around at the group. Rossweisse and Suzaku are basically on top of me, while Shinobu is staring at me with tears in the corners of her eyes almost as close to me as the other two are.
"What did I miss?" I ask while drawing in Ki to refill my reserves.
"Of course, that's what you lead with," Seiryuu sighs, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Oh yeah, I should thank my saviours first." I force a blush to my cheeks and bite my lip.
Peeking up at Suzaku and Rosswiesse through my lashes, I whisper feigning reticence, "I don't have anything to give you right now. Except for my body…"
The two blush atomically, glancing at my body.
With their task completed and no longer needing to remain focused, they realize I'm currently very naked giving them a view of everything. They both leap up in unison, hastily stuttering out denials and platitudes.
While they're having their meltdowns I check the condition of my body with my Ki.
Suzaku's flames did an excellent job healing me, to the point I only need to make minor fixes in the more complex organs. I assume that is due to Rossweisse guiding the flames since otherwise she wouldn't have had a reason to assist.
I lay my palms flat on the ground on either side of me and push, throwing me up into a standing position.
I make sure to stretch fully -solely to make sure my body is in top condition, of course.
The reactions are surprisingly tame to my chagrin. Other than Rossweisse, Suzaku, and Shinobu who are all going to pass out from the blood rushing to their heads, most don't seem to care.
Bikou is simply turning his head away being surprisingly chivalrous and Seiryuu is just staring at me looking vaguely disappointed in my behaviour.
"It is heartening to see you in good spirits, my rival." Senzaemon chuckles and slaps me on the shoulder with a heavy gauntlet. "I had worried your vigour would be diminished by this setback."
I snort, "If anything I'm pissed off. That lizard broke my sword before I could cut its head off. Now I'll have to figure out how to do that without my sword."
Bikou cackles as Senzaemon sniffles wetly, "My rival… you have the noble spirit of a samurai inside you."
I give the armoured warrior an exasperated smile, "Sure, buddy. Whatever you want to believe."
Suzaku and Rossweisse both realize they can cast magic and finally both shoot me with regional variants of the clothes beam. It gets a bit stuffy when a kimono and a full outfit comprised of a long skirt, a long-sleeved blouse and knee-high boots appear on me at the same time.
I'm a bit surprised at how modern Rossweisse's tastes run but I like the outfit choice. I could rock the look if it wasn't clashing with the kimono. It does give me ideas to diversify my wardrobe when I get back though.
The two are clearly still flustered. Especially when taking into account the breeze I can feel below me. They forgot underwear in their haste.
I grin mischievously.
Or maybe they didn't forget and it was on purpose?
"Ladies, if you wanted to dress me up you only had to ask." I waggle my eyebrows, "You can also do the opposite if you like."
They have different reactions to my teasing. Rossweisse covers her face with her hands and shies away. Suzaku on the other hand looks like she wants to strangle me… not that I'd be opposed.
'Can you not? I'm trying to sleep here.' Byakko growls angrily. 'I had to watch your new pet lizard and sand isn't easy to nap on.'
I snort and burn away the Rossweisse's outfit choice, being more comfortable fighting in the kimono. "Seriously though, thank you both for healing me."
Rossweisse sighs in relief and gives me a small nod. She tucks a stray hair behind her ear looking embarrassed, "You're welcome, Ibaraki. It was the least I could do for a friend."
I beam at Rossweisse and Suzaku speaks, "I'm glad it turned out alright, I wasn't confident I could heal you without Rossweisse's assistance."
Smiling softly I step in closer to Suzaku, "I was confident that someone would heal me. I'm glad it was you though."
Before she can react I give her a quick kiss at the corner of her mouth. I would have gone for the lips but this way she can interpret that how she wants. While she's distracted I slip around her and gives Rossweisse a hug.
"Thank you again. I really meant it." Rossweisse returns the hug slowly, her surprise at the embrace delaying her reaction.
"You should visit Kyoto sometime. I'd love to show you around." I say, leaning back and grinning at the white-haired Valkyrie.
"I'd like that." She glances off at the water. "I think we have more pressing concerns though."
I sigh dramatically, "Fine, I just have one more thing to do."
Shinobu is fidgeting looking somewhere between nervous and jealous. I smile gently as I pull her into a hug too, "I'm glad your safe."
She starts to cry again on my shoulder and I comfort her by holding her for a while longer. "Everyone here was worried for you. It must have been hard going through that."
"I was terrified." She lets out a shuddering breath, "I don't even know how I got there. One second I was fighting a different dragon and then I appeared in that one's mouth."
My lips thin in annoyance. Not at her, of course, but at whoever decided to mess with us.
There's no way the dragon could have got the drop on her at that size. Not without her at least knowing it happened.
"Your safe now, just rest for a bit while we handle the last dragon, okay?" She bites her lip hard enough to draw blood and shakes her head frantically.
"I want to help. No, I need to help." She grabs onto my arm and looks at me pleadingly, "I'm not going to remain a weak little girl who always needs to be saved. I can't just sit out and have all my problems solved for me again!"
I sigh and rest my forehead against hers, "Shinobu, just because this fight is beyond you doesn't mean you're weak. The fact that you almost died and are willing to throw yourself back in the fray makes you pretty strong in my eyes."
"I know it's hard to take my words at face value but just let us handle this. One day I might need you to save me. When that happens, I hope I recognize that you're a better fit for the job instead of struggling and getting in the way." I back off and she still doesn't look convinced.
"Who knows? You might end up stronger than me sometime soon but we'll never find out if you end up dying right now." She slumps and finally lets me go.
"I'll hold you to that," She says a determined glint in her eyes.
I'm glad this didn't extinguish that drive from earlier. I honestly would have expected this to kill her desire to become stronger, smothering that drive in fear and uncertainty. It looks as though she's made of sterner stuff than that.
Walking to the edge of the water, I glare down into the depths. That bastard better hurry up and lick its wounds otherwise I'm coming down there whether it's ready or not. I'll borrow Senzaemon's magic fishing rod and drag it to the surface if I have to.
"Do you actually believe that?" I turn and see Bikou giving me a curious glance.
"Which part?" I blow out a puff of air through my lips, "Her becoming stronger than me is definitely possible. It won't be easy considering I don't plan on plateauing any time soon. Weirder things have happened though."
"She's nearing the limit of her potential as is." He points out not unkindly.
"Physical potential, sure. We both know with magic or more esoteric methods she could push herself further." I hike my thumb at the unconscious Haneul, "She could even focus on pure technique to make up for that."
"Huh," He says peering into my eyes and seeing my faith in those words, "What about the part where you'll need to be saved?"
I laugh, "I literally needed to be saved a minute ago. That isn't going to become less likely in the future. I'm not arrogant enough to think I'll reach the top of the world through anything other than a mountain of failures."
"You're not what I was expecting," Bikou says mildly.
"I get that a lot. Though some people get exactly what they expect from me, usually after pissing me off." He lets out a sharp laugh, nodding.
"That I can see." I laugh along with him.
I can easily play the part of the monster if need be. That has been coming out less lately, however. Probably because I haven't met someone stupid enough to piss me off recently.
Except for Susanoo… the bastard.
He frowns suddenly staring into the depths of the sea like I am. "How are we going to kill that monster."
"I'll figure something out," I say with a shrug and sit down in a lotus position.
He doesn't look convinced for some reason. Odd, I thought I had an aura of reliability?
"First though, I need a sword," I mutter aloud.
Senzaemon probably has a sword on him. If he has a fishing rod he damn well better have a sword.
Would that sword suit me though? It's unlikely it would be a Nodachi or anything close to the abomination that was the Bone Sword.
Besides, would a sword that small stand a chance of decapitating a massive dragon? Of course not.
'Ugh, just make one quickly so I can sleep. Your thinking is too loud.' I freeze at the lazy tigers mumbled words.
I made armour out of rage to protect myself. Why the hell couldn't I make a sword out of actual sword energy?
I fall backwards on the sand and stare skyward despondently. "I'm an idiot."
"Um… I'm not going to disagree with you if that's what you're searching for here." Bikou says peering at me curiously.
"I've been using an entire subset of energy wrong this entire time." Bikou furrows his brows and looks around, clearly wondering what I'm talking about.
"You've lost me already." I flip over and groan, burying my face in the sand.
Become one with the sand, you useless creature. This is all you deserve.
This is your home now.
"Okay seriously, what is wrong with you right now?" I push my head out of the sand and glare at Bikou, the grains slowly falling off my face.
"I've been enhancing a sword with sword intent." He blinks and makes a vague circle gesture with his arm to get me to continue.
I puff my cheeks out in frustration and stand up, holding a palm skyward. Focusing, a small ray of silver light manifests on my palm and dances. "What do you see here?"
"A glowing light…" He squints moving closer.
"You're hopeless." I groan, walking away to find someone with intelligence, "How are we even friends?"
"Since when was it decided we were friends?" He shouts bewildered.
I stomp over to where Yu Wei is sitting down with Feng Meng. She's a fair bit smaller than the mountain of a man and is cuddled into his side gesturing animatedly up at him. The wholesome image is enough to give me pause for a moment before I remember my purpose.
"Daoist Yu!" She blinks at me suddenly interrupting her before smiling gently.
"Ibaraki, it's good to see you healed well. We were worried for a while there." I thrust my palm towards her, the sword light still dancing atop it.
"...." She blinks and looks between my palm and me a few times.
Feng Meng chuckles and pats her on the head, "Our friend here is asking what you think of her cultivation. You are her senior in such matters."
She makes an 'O' shape with her mouth before peering seriously at my palm.
"Sharp." Saying so she nods…
…and leaves it at that.
I sigh and pinch the bridge of my nose, "When you use your Frostflame, it just is, correct? You don't need to contain it or supplement it even if you can."
"Un, that is common knowledge, isn't it?" Her head tilts to the side and my shoulders slump.
"Thank you, Daoist Yu." I trudge back to Bikou despondently. Common knowledge my ass.
So many wasted years using a subpar weapon…
He's still scratching his head as I angrily sit beside him again. "We don't need anyone else's help to kill it anymore."
"Oh, how did you come to that conclusion?" He says not doubting my opinion but clearly curious.
"I have a sword large enough to decapitate it in a single swing," I grumble testily. "I just need an opening."
My brow furrows and I hold up a finger, "I'll probably need you to fish me out of the water as well. I've never tried this so I may pass out."
"Should I ask or is this one of those moments where silence is golden?" I slowly turn my head to face him and glare.
"Gotcha, silence it is." He zips his lips.
I close my eyes and I reappear inside my mindscape.
The statue in the centre of the shrine shifts its posture, no longer needing to hold a sword as I walk past it. The trees behind the shrine part and make a short path for me before being blown away as they're sliced to bits.
Sword intent flows into the area, creating a decent sized crater and violently slashing down the nearest trees again. The energy continues to rampage, digging furrows into the ground, and removing any traces of life.
I growl and the energy snaps to the centre of the crater, thrashing wildly as it is forced into the shape of a sword. I'm not surprised the energy is so unwieldy given it is an expression of me. That doesn't make it any less annoying though.
An obvious handle starts to take shape, lighter and darker tones intermingling to create detail while still retaining the base bright silver hue. The energy wraps around the handle to form the sleeve and as the guard manifests the sword intent pulses outward again.
When I get to the point of forming the blade itself my progress stalls.
Do I keep the single-edged design I'm used to or go for a double-edged blade? I mull it over for a second before slapping myself in the forehead.
No retreat and a single crushing swing are what I want from the image. Why would I need a second edge when I want the weight of the heavens to fall on a single point and cleave through all opposition?
The blade shoots up out of the guard skyward at a monstrous pace as the image comes together. The giant blade towers above the rest of my mindscape, adding a layer of height to the perspective of the place. As the tip of the blade forms, a clear note rings out through my mindscape and the void above splits open.
"Oi! I said I was trying to sleep!" Byakko growls causing me to snort. He leaps at me with his claws out just as I leave my mindscape.
I blink awake as the spray of water hits my face.
"Took you long enough." I hear Bikou say tersely.
Swiftly taking stock of my surroundings, I notice I'm sitting on Jindou-Yun. In the middle of a, pardon the pun, biblical storm.
"You sure are a heavy sleeper." He growls as we bank sharply.
All around us, massive tendrils of water whip wildly through the air, spinning like hurricanes. Dark storm clouds fill the sky and the winds howl. The water is flowing so wildly that it seems like the rain has been reversed, sharp droplets of water piercing upwards rather than downward.
"Oh, don't reply, that's fine. I'm not struggling to make it through this storm at all. Why don't you just take another nap while I handle this." Bikou snarks without turning to me.
"I didn't realize I took so long." I crack my neck and stand up searching for my target through the storm.
His staff glows as he points it ahead of us, a giant glyph forming that slows down an approaching water whip. "So, you have a plan right? Because if you don't, I really regret not bringing backup."
"I even said that we wouldn't need help all confidently." His staff sweeps and extends breaking through a towering water tornado. "How embarrassing."
"Of course, I have a plan!" I wave off the question as I blast an incoming water spear. "It shows its neck and I decapitate it."
"That's barely an idea, let alone a plan!" Bikou groans, "I'm too handsome to die young."
I pat him on the shoulder as the dragon comes into view, "At least you got to see a woman naked before then."
"Hah, I guess it wasn't too bad a life then." He says with a smile as we both look at the dragon.
Its face is covered in burn scars and the flesh around its mouth has melted fusing it shut. One of its nostrils is simply gone, instead, having a gaping hole in the spot. Most striking though are its eyes which contain boundless rage as it glares up at us.
"Do you think it's upset about last time?" Bikou asks over his shoulder.
"I don't know… If only it could tell us." I shake my head sadly.
The dragon must have understood the meaning behind our conversation because a massive flood of water shoots toward us from all directions.
"Ah, it's definitely upset." I nod as danger approaches.
"Has it gotten uglier?" Bikou muses.
I cackle at the joke as I fling myself off the cloud in the opposite direction Bikou strafes.
As I separate from my companion, I mask my presence completely, falling through a gap in the hydro-kinetic assault.
Predictably, the dumb reptile follows the obvious target that my companion presents and I land on the water surface in time for the dragon to turn in the opposite direction.
I grin ferally as I finally see the creature's neck. It is presented so nicely for me that I have to take advantage of the opening. I take a step forward and raise my arms above my head in the upper-level posture.
The weather around me abruptly clears as my sword manifests in the world. The blade is so sharp that it cuts the storm on contact.
All along the dragon's body its scales stand up and rattle as though sensing its imminent death.
Still, it's too slow.
My muscles tense and my Touki flares, my sword raking across the sky as it descends on the neck of the mighty serpent. Its powerful body and durable flesh only provide token resistance as my blade cleaves through the dragon, separating the head cleanly.
I pant as my sword hits the water surface and black starts to creep along the edges of my vision.
Crap, now I can't mock Haneul for passing out after his attack!